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ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Three Flyers finished in double-digits as No. 9 Lewis women's hoops topped Bellarmine 83-73 on Saturday (Jan. 23) afternoon in a battle for first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division.

Freshman Jessica Kelliher (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) tied a career high with 29 points on 13-of-18 shooting. She added seven rebounds and six blocks.

"This might have been Jessica's best game," Lewis head coach Kristen Gillespie said. "She played so composed even when there were two or three players on her. She was great on defense today too."

Kelliher is the third player in school history to record six blocks in a game. The last was Jenny Turpel against Bellarmine on Jan. 2, 2011. The school record for single game blocks is 10 by Sue Oldendorf vs. IPFW during the 1985-86 season. Oldendorf was honored at halftime as part of the 1980's women's basketball All-Decade Team.

 Senior Mariyah Brawner-Henley (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. The 22 points moved Brawner-Henley to seventh all-time in scoring at Lewis with 1731. She passed Julie Fruent, who was also in attendance for the All-Decades Team.

The biggest contribution might have come from freshman Kayla Brewer (Milwaukee, Wis./Milwaukee School of Languages). She had a career-high 14 points with four rebounds, four assists and three steals. More importantly she had no turnovers, on a day in which Lewis recorded 28 turnovers as a team.

"Bellarmine caught us on our heels a bit with their press," Lewis head coach Kristen Gillespie said. "It is hard to simulate that in practice. But for Kayla to put up that line with no turnovers is fantastic."

The Flyers led for more than 36 minutes of the game but never put the Knights away until late in the fourth when an 8-0 Lewis run gave the Flyers a 77-65 lead. One of the nicest plays came with 2:29 left in the game when Lewis was nearing a 10-second call. Junior Alyssa Siwek (Palos Heights, Ill./Mother McAuley) saw Kelliher wide open under the basket and delivered a perfect pass to her from 50 feet away.

Lewis shot 64.0 percent (32-of-50) from the field while limiting Bellarmine to 37.1 percent (26-of-70) from the floor. The Flyers out-rebounded the Knights 40-30, but due to turnovers saw the Knights take 20 more shots in the game.

The Flyers held a 52-24 edge in points in the paint.

Bellarmine falls to 13-2 (7-2 GLVC). Lewis improves to 18-1 (9-0 GLVC) with their 13^th straight win. The Flyers are back in action on Thursday (Jan. 28) at UIS.